


Ink in Motion

by shutendouji



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Lesbian Character of Color, Tattoos, Useless Lesbians, contemporary, lots of edgy shit but it's fluffy af, more of my original stuff, the best commission i've ever received hands down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-12-15 05:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11799318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shutendouji/pseuds/shutendouji
Summary: AJ is a sailor-mouthed, poorly educated tattoo artist in San Francisco. Jodie is a talented artist and animator in New York City. When the two cross paths via an email mishap, only trouble can ensue. T for now. Original Patreon commission for Nine.





	1. Chapter 1

There were many things about the world that AJ understood-how to clean tattoos, how to avoid being mugged (and how to defend yourself if you are mugged), and how to understand people's motives-but school and the internet as a whole were not those things. AJ didn't value a lot of what her parents believed before they died-they were typical, strict helicopter parents who only valued grades, and AJ preferred working with trades than academia-but she did value minimalism. She didn't care for the newest fashions, the latest gadgets, or really name-brand anything, but sometimes, it came at a cost.

"Goddamn computer," she mumbled, watching the ancient Windows Vista-powered laptop crash yet again. "I should upgrade someday."

Despite being not very technologically savvy, AJ was very active on social media-after all, she was a pretty well-known tattoo artist in San Francisco, and she got most of her clients to book appointments through Facebook and Instagram-yet she maybe checked her email accounts maybe twice a year. She made one for personal exchanges (but really, mostly subscriptions to people's Etsy shops)-ajnakamura-and one for her -and she checked her business account after her computer finally booted up.

"Look who finally decided to check their email," the tattoo shop's co-owner and her twin, Alicia, said, tutting from behind her. Alicia, though a very talented artist, was probably AJ's polar opposite; AJ spent her days skateboarding and playing video games, while Alicia was married, pregnant, and spent all of her free time on Pinterest, trying to find the best DIY nursery. She also was rather organized-painfully so, according to AJ.

AJ cringed at the thought of how Alicia probably actually trashed things in her inbox that she didn't need. Or worse, she put them in folders. AJ didn't even know how to do that, nor did she care to learn. She had her own system. "Fuck off, man. When is your belly gonna explode again?"

Alicia turned away in a mock-huff. "Don't be rude. And she's not due for another three months."

"Sounds like it sucks."

"You'll want kids someday."

"Leesh, don't make it sound like you're so much older. We're the same age."

"I'm ten minutes older."

AJ rolled her eyes as she replied to one of her emails. An older lady wanted to get her first tattoo here, but she was afraid of needles and wanted to know how painful a shoulder tattoo would be.

"Do you want me to word the email for you? Honestly, your grammar is atrocious. Maybe I should've let you pay me to take tests for you in high school."

"I'm getting by fine, okay?" AJ hit send before Alicia could do anything. "Besides, all that money went toward a good cause." AJ then proceeded to check her personal email, dodging a Kit Kat that Alicia chucked at her head. Her inbox was cluttered with store promos and Facebook notifications AJ would never read, so she scrolled past all the nonsense. But something stopped her.

Huffing, Alicia examined AJ's computer. "Looks like someone sent you an email."

"That's weird. Not many people have this email, and I don't recognize the name."

AJ clicked it as Alicia screamed, " _Don't click it! It could be a virus!"_

AJ rolled her eyes and read aloud, "Dear Mr. Nakamura, I have enclosed my most recent project. Please let me know any feedback you have. Sincerely, Jodie Wallace."

"Don't open the file," Alicia warned.

"I'm gonna open the file."

"AJ, I swear to God—"

"Which one?"

"The one that sends you to Hell."

AJ opened the file, laughing as Alicia pulled her hair out. It was a video with no audio of topless mermaids swimming around each other. One was sitting on a rock, brushing her hair. It was slightly choppy, but better than anything AJ could manage. She was transfixed by the art, the color of the water and how it seemed to glow in the sunlight, the crashing of the waves, the way the mermaids' hairs flowed in the water. Eventually, the sky clouded over, and the three mermaids swam together quickly into a cave, ushering some small fish inside. When the video finished, the screen read "Jodie Wallace for Trouble at Sea, 2017."

"That was amazing," AJ commented. "I'm gonna reply to this Jodie character."

"I will literally kill you."

"Why shouldn't I respond to her?" AJ turned, crossing her arms at her twin. "Jodie deserves to know that her project was sent to me and not whoever Mr. Nakamura is."

"I suppose you're right, but…you should check your computer for viruses."

"My laptop probably has like fifty viruses. What's one more?"

"You're so stupid."

"Love you too." AJ hit reply and typed, "Hey dude, I'm not Mr. Nakamura. I'm a Ms. Nakamura, and I'm the owner of a tattoo shop in San Francisco. Your art is super legit, but you should probably find the correct email for Mr. Nakamura so you don't get chewed out. Feel free to send me any of your other creations! AJ."

"That's so poorly written—" Alicia began, but the email was already sent.

"Problem?" AJ asked, closing her laptop and standing.

"It's your business," Alicia said after a long pause.

"That's right. Don't you have a client to ink?"

"Not for another half hour. I'm gonna head over to Starbucks. Want anything?"

"The usual," AJ replied. "Venti caramel Frappuccino, no whip."

"You're going to get diabetes," Alicia said, grabbing her purse.

"And your vag is gonna get all torn up from your leech."

She laughed and waved goodbye, her free hand holding her pregnant bulge.

AJ sat in the silent studio for a while before compulsively opening her laptop again. She didn't know why, but she really wanted Jodie to reply.

Jodie Wallace was late—but when was she ever on time? She barely had time to pull her wild, poofy hair into a quasi-organized bun and grab a protein bar before she had to hop her train to Aquatica Studios. She chewed on her protein bar as she looked through her files in her messenger bag, accidentally dumping them all over the man sitting next to her.

"Watch yourself," he said, lifting his coffee in the air angrily.

"Sorry, sorry," Jodie tried, scooping up all the images of her precious mermaid characters. After graduating from college, Jodie applied for an internship to Aquatica, but they loved her animated works so much that after six months, they brought her on as a full-time artist and animator for her movie,  _Trouble at Sea_. All Jodie wanted was to travel into her pictures and drown herself in the very sea she spent agonizing hours animating, because she was absolutely unprepared.

"First day?" the man asked.

Jodie nodded. "I didn't expect to get such big work so soon."

"Welcome to New York," the man said with a gentle smile, lifting his coffee now as a toast. "You'll do fine, I'm sure. Did you draw that?" He gestured to a picture of Nina, the main character and mermaid of her movie.

"Yeah, I designed her for my internship. She's my awful baby."

"You're an artist?"

"And animator. There's a whole team of people designing her now, though. She's become a much bigger character."

Trouble at Sea wasn't, after all, Jodie's idea in full. The internship called for a creation of a main character, and Jodie modeled Nina after herself, with dark skin, shameless curls, and a bit vertically challenged. Aquatica loved her so much that they hired her as soon as she turned it in. But going from drawing and animating one character and going on coffee runs to being in charge of a full two-hour movie was a large jump, and Jodie wasn't sure if she'd ever sleep again. As Jodie was about to delve into a long discussion regarding her beloved protagonist, the train pinged with her stop. Cursing her inability to use adequate time management, she gathered her belongings, waved good bye, and hopped off the train.

Jodie lived in New York City her whole life, but every day she went to work, it felt like a new world. She never saw the same people twice on her trek to work. Even when she went to Starbucks, the baristas behind the counter appeared different. Sometimes, Jodie felt like a ghost passing through, watching the world change around her, as she stayed the same.

Once she made it to the fortieth floor of her building, she was stopped just outside the elevator. Jodie swallowed. It was her boss, Jun Nakamura, the owner of Aquatica.

"You're late," he said, sweat beading at his crooked hairline. "And you still haven't sent me your animation sample."

Jodie chewed her lip as they walked together into the office. "I sent it last night around eleven." She scrambled in her pocket and pulled out her phone to show him.

Jun's frown increased as he eyed the email. "That's not my email address. You've been in contact with me for over six months, and you can't type my email address correctly?"

"I'm so sorry, sir. I don't know what happened." The email hadn't been returned with an "invalid email" message, so it must have gone through to someone. Who was ajnakamura?

He waved her off, irritable. "Just send it to me once you get to your desk. We have a lot of work to do. Get your shit together if you want to be a part of this project."

"Yes, sir."

Jun ran off to go yell at another animator, and Jodie made it to her cube. Jodie was always excited, even as a child, to get her own cube; her single dad was a software developer when she was a kid, and sometimes, he brought her to work so he could show her the sort of work he did. She was fascinated with code, of course, but she was more fascinated with the artistic things in life, and one of those was decorating her cube.

She only got her own cube a week ago, when her internship was up and she was brought on as a full-time employee, so there were only a few pictures and seashells she had gathered from her beach trip. She had a small picture frame painted to look like sand around the edges, and when she switched it on, a picture of her and her dad at her college graduation appeared. Most of the pictures loaded on it were of her and her dad, maybe a friend or two every once in a while, but Jodie was a rather lonely sort. She didn't like to brood about it, but as an artist and an animator, she rarely had time to see the world. She was always behind a computer or a sketchbook, trying to finish the newest project.

Even if she gave herself the time, she was already sacrificing sleep to work on  _Trouble at Sea_. She didn't know how her coworkers were able to go to bars on weekend—or even how they were able to afford the bars in the City.

Jodie sent the email to the correct address—jnakamura, without an a this time—when she got a reply. Her face grew warm as she read the message.

"Hey dude, I'm not Mr. Nakamura. I'm a Ms. Nakamura, and I'm the owner of a tattoo shop in San Francisco. Your art is super legit, but you should probably find the correct email for Mr. Nakamura so you don't get chewed out. Feel free to send me any of your other creations! AJ."

So AJ was a tattoo artist on the other side of the country. Jodie felt a pang in her heart at the idea of talking to someone who wasn't a coworker, and decided to ride the impulse. "I'm so sorry that I sent this to you! My boss unfortunately found out that I sent it to the wrong person, but I'm sure everything will be alright." She winced at her positivity, but continued anyway. "Thank you for enjoying my work. If you like, you could send me some of your work sometime. Perhaps we could inspire one another. Jodie."

"Ms. Wallace?"

Jodie jumped, hitting the send button in the same fell swoop. It was one of her coworkers, a blonde glamazon with her bun as tight as her asshole, as Jodie would assume. They had never spoken directly, but Jodie had heard her chastising all the other animators and artists for not doing things her way.

"So you're the famous new Jodie Wallace, huh? I guess they're filling their minority quota with you."

Jodie winced. "What do you mean? Mr. Nakamura was a fan of my work during the internship and thought my ideas would be perfect for  _Trouble at Sea_. It had nothing to do with—"

"You being black? Please. Aquatica is a small studio, but with all the social justice warriors these days, especially in the city, we have to have our minority quota. Do you see any other minorities around you?"

Jodie scanned the room. She didn't, but she replied, "I mean, Mr. Nakamura is a minority himself."

"Please. He's Asian. Obviously. But we've never had a black girl here before."

"I don't feel like this is an appropriate work discussion, ma'am," Jodie said, feeling her cheeks grow warmer.

"I don't care what you think. All I care about is people who deserve recognition getting their recognition and voices heard in this project. I've been working on this longer than you've even been with this company, so it was only logical for me to get this role. Hell, he probably only hired you 'cause you're black. Use your brain. He doesn't care about your art. He just wants to do the right thing. And now, all of us who have slaved on this project for years are suffering."

Jodie heard footsteps and recognized them as Jun's. "You really need to leave," Jodie said, a bit louder than she normally spoke.

Jun stopped at the cube. "Melina, what are you doing at Jodie's desk?"

Melina gave Jodie a stiff smile like poisoned honey. "Have a good day, sweetie." And she walked off, her stilettos clicking angrily in her wake.

"I…I sent you the email," Jodie said softly, clearing her throat.

"I saw. Brilliant work. The only problem is the breasts."

Jodie furrowed her brows. "But the mermaids were topless in my original design. It's impractical for them to be wearing anything."

Jun sighed. "I know, but this is targeted at kids. We don't want angry moms on us about exposing their children to nudity. Not that there should be a problem with breasts in the first place, but…we're too small to handle a lawsuit. I want them to be adequately covered by this evening. Same animation, but cleaner, if you can."

By lunch! Jodie gasped in horror at the clock reading half-past eleven. "I'll get to work right away."

"I knew I could count on you." With a slight incline of his head, hands clasped behind his back, he departed.

Jodie sighed, pulling out all her designs. "I guess we're starting over…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ deals with an annoying client while Jodie deals with an annoying coworker.

“Y’know, you’d get more men if you didn’t have your head shaved.”

AJ hadn’t asked for her client’s opinion, nor was she interested in men, so she simply said, “That’s the best news I’ve heard in my entire life,” and dug the tattoo needle into her skin deeper, irritated.

AJ hated linework, and this client, a stuffy young woman named Kelsey, wanted an extremely detailed musical note sleeve. AJ hated this particular client, too, even though Kelsey had been coming to see her for years. But with Kelsey’s black card, rebellion from her Christian parents, and love for AJ’s art, AJ decided she would gladly marry linework in return for the pay she got.

Kelsey was also the reason AJ got up so early. She usually wasn’t up til at least 10am, but for Kelsey, who had to get her eight-hour tattoo session in before her orchestra rehearsal, AJ rolled out of bed around eight to set up. Kelsey showed up as soon as AJ had shut her laptop, and she had been tattooing this girl ever since.

Kelsey inclined her head. “You’re not a _lesbian_ , are you?” She enunciated _lesbian_ in the same hushed, disgusted tone someone would say something really vulgar in front of young children.

AJ laughed. Kelsey was rather dense if she hadn’t caught on to her gayness. “We both are.”

Kelsey wrinkled her nose. “Not for each other, I hope?”

AJ pretended to vomit. “’Course not. She ain’t my type.”

“But she doesn’t _seem_ like a _lesbian_. She wears skirts and has her hair long.”

AJ rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not, lesbians don’t have one type of look.”

“Then why do you shave your head? You could seem so much more normal if you didn’t.”

“You act like I shaved my entire head,” AJ scoffed, “and don’t worry, I already did that years ago.” Her thick hair was shaved on the sides, her dyed-blue mohawk up in liberty spikes, intricate prisms done by her sister tattooed on the completely-bald sides. “I just like to express myself. I’m an artist, so why the fuck not, y’know?”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “You look like you just came from prison.”

“You know what?” AJ slammed her tattoo gun down on the table. “I can stop. I can leave your tattoo partially done, and you can take your bigotry and—”

“AJ, what the fuck is going on?” Alicia had just finished ringing up her cutesy sister tattoos she did for a couple of basic white girls and leaped over to them.

“She’s being a bigot about my lesbianism and head tattoos, and I’m telling her that I can just leave her tattoo unfinished and she can try to find her definition of normal tattoo artists somewhere else in San Francisco, and she can enjoy having a half-done tattoo.”

At first, AJ thought her sister would argue, but instead, she hissed, “This is our business, and how we present ourselves is up to us. It’s true. I’m happily married to my wife, who is a video game designer, and we have our science baby on the way.” Alicia patted her pregnant tummy. “AJ is also gay. It’s genetic. Try finding identical twins who don’t have the same orientation. But because it’s our business, we can throw out anyone we like. So you can suck it up and learn to not be a bigot and enjoy AJ’s art, or you can continue your closed-minded life and I _dare_ you to find an artist who can do these tiny, perfectly-symmetrical—that’s honestly really good, AJ—leger lines.” She folded her arms over her tummy bulge.

Kelsey sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, sis,” AJ said.

“I’ll always stand up for you. Also, please clean up your desk. It’s a disaster.”

AJ rolled her eyes. Good ol’ Alicia, being anal as ever.

After Alicia left to work on her next client’s sketches, AJ said, “You know how you’re rebelling against your rich Christian parents?”

Kelsey rolled her annoyingly-blue eyes. “They’re Mormon.”

“Tomato, tomato. You could start your rebellion on trying to be more open-minded. I know Mormons are all about hating gays and all that, but if you really wanna be different, try to have a kinder rebellion, yeah? I’m sure the world would appreciate you more.”

Kelsey sighed. “I don’t hate gay people…I just don’t get it. I couldn’t imagine having a…you know…in my mouth!” She shuddered.

Dammit! Her shuddering messed up the line. AJ went over it again. Good. It was fixed. Crisis averted. “Just because I’m a lesbian doesn’t mean you have to be. You can like boys, and I can like girls, and we can support each other and be happy.”

Kelsey didn’t say anything for the rest of the tattoo session and instead proceeded to watch Netflix on her phone. She seemed really lost in thought. AJ couldn’t stand the bitch, so she didn’t pry for conversation. When she rang her up later, Kelsey left an abysmal tip. AJ supposed she hadn’t decided to be less of a bigot yet.

AJ decided she would clean up so Alicia would get off her ass, grab an IPA and a burger, and kick back at home watching Netflix, smoking weed, drinking, and eating to her heart’s content. She needed therapy time after dealing with that bitch. But halfway through her cleaning—she never did make it far—she decided to check her email again.

There was a reply from Jodie! AJ clicked it excitedly.

“I’m so sorry that I sent this to you! My boss unfortunately found out that I sent it to the wrong person, but I’m sure everything will be alright. Thank you for enjoying my work. If you like, you could send me some of your work sometime. Perhaps we could inspire one another. Jodie.”

AJ beamed. She made an art friend on accident! Excitedly, she linked Jodie to her Instagram and said, “Here’s my online portfolio. You’re making me wanna sketch mermaids! But not tonight. I just had a bitch of a client for eight hours and my hand is crying. How are you holding up with your boss? AJ.”

Satisfied, AJ packed up her laptop, finished cleaning up her ink mess to the best of her ability, and headed out.

 

 

It was 7:30pm, and Jodie’s day was finally over. She was exhausted, and her eyes were tired from looking at the screen all day. She knew she had some art commissions to finish when she got home, but she was more excited to check on the Steam Summer Sale than do that. Her hands were so tired, she felt as though she were allergic to drawing now.

Jun tapped on the edge of her cube and invited himself in. “Excellent work today. We’re pushing through your concept to the musicians and voice actors, and it’ll be a full commercial within a few days.”

Jodie wiped beads of sweat off of her brow. “Really? It was that good?”

“Everyone in Aquatica is satisfied with your work. I’m so glad you’re on our team.”

Jodie beamed, but couldn’t help but notice Melina giving her glances from across the hall. Her heart hammered in her chest as Melina sauntered over to Jun.

“Excuse me, Jun, but I submitted my full commercial to you as a side project? And I never got a response?” The pleading in her voice made Jodie nauseous.

“Yes, Melina, well, I saw it, and as I was just telling Jodie here, we already submitted our animation for the commercial to the musicians and voice actors. We don’t need any more.”

Melina’s smile faltered. “Oh.”

“As a matter of fact, as a homework assignment for you, I need you to draw some more positions for Lora’s concept art. Could you get those in for me by tonight?”

“Certainly. And believe me, they’ll be a lot more artistically complex than…what we have going now.” Melina gave Jodie a smirk.

“That won’t be necessary. We’re focusing more on background and less on the characters in artistic complexity, and our background artists are already through with all their concept art. Children tend to like the characters to look more simple, and I’m quite the fan of Jodie’s art style. Try to keep it as close to that as possible. We’re in the big leagues now.”

With a huff, Melina stomped off, tripping on her heel slightly.

“As I was saying,” Jun said, “You’re doing an excellent job. If there’s anything more you need from me, please let me know.”

“Oh! Uh! I think we’re all doing great!” Jodie wanted to slit her throat due to how awkward she was being. Jun was asking _her_ what she needed from him? Unbelievable!

“Well, I will see you tomorrow at 10:30am. Get some rest.” And with that, Jun gave her a polite nod and headed out of the office.

Jodie hurried to pack her stuff and head out. She didn’t want more trouble with Melina. As she sat on the subway home, she checked her phone. Her Patreon was blown up with messages regarding when her commissions would be completed, and Jodie settled for copy and pasting the same, “Sorry! Had to finish a commercial for my day job. I’m exhausted and going to bed, but I’ll have them done by this weekend!” for all of them. But then, she excitedly saw that she had an email from AJ.

“Here’s my online portfolio. You’re making me wanna sketch mermaids! But not tonight. I just had a bitch of a client for eight hours and my hand is crying. How are you holding up with your boss? AJ.”

Before replying, Jodie did a deep look-through of AJ’s Instagram. Her art was fantastic and extremely detailed. There was character concept art and some fanart mixed in with the most beautiful tattoos Jodie had ever seen. They were very vibrant and looked almost real, especially her portraits. She tapped on her story and saw a mostly-finished musical note sleeve (the diagonal caption read “Almost done!”) and then a selfie showing a picture of a woman with head tattoos and a mohawk holding a Starbucks and saying, “I want to go back to bed.”

Hastily, Jodie screenshotted it and examined it closer.

She gasped.

AJ was the hottest woman she had ever seen.

Her mohawk was a bright blue—she had no idea how she got her hair to stay that color—and the sides of her head were completely bald and covered in what looked like prism flowers. They were extremely interesting and like nothing Jodie had ever seen in her life. She didn’t wear any makeup but had several piercings: her ears were pierced and gauged to oblivion, and she had her bridge, septum, one nostril, and the part above her top lip Jodie couldn’t remember the name of all pierced with black jewelry. She was also heavily tattooed even aside from her head prisms. She was wearing a black hoodie, but she could see what looked like the bottom of full sleeves poking out from beneath and runes decorating her fingers.

Jodie followed her back and decided to post a selfie of her own on her Instagram story. She was, after all, pretty proud of the little suit she put on for work. She captioned it, “The subway is always so noisy that it keeps my brain quiet,” and hit post.

Then she replied to AJ’s email. “My boss is pretty cool. We just submitted the final version of the art and animation for our first commercial! I did all the animation and concept art for the characters in it, and I’m really proud of it. It’s been sent to the musicians and voice actors to work on, and when it’s finished, I’ll send it to you! I understand what you mean about your hand being tired. I have so many commissions to do, I want to die.” She figured AJ would appreciate her morbid humor. “Your art is amazing, by the way. I could learn a lot from you. I followed you back on Instagram! Jodie.”

Once she hit send, the subway stopped, and she climbed out and up the stairs. She was only a few blocks away from her studio apartment, but she was too hungry to walk, so she stopped for some Chinese takeout on the way, nibbling on her Chow Mein as she walked home.

Her cat Socks greeted her at the door, his white paws grazing her pants as he tried to steal her food. She gave him a friendly nudge and kicked off her shoes before plopping on the futon and turning on the TV. The news always disturbed her and seemed to be on every channel, so she settled for some Nickelodeon and snuggled under a blanket and her cat and pretended she was twelve again and not twenty-four and tired.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ relaxes at home, while Jodie is terrified...

As much as AJ and Alicia bickered, AJ really missed living with her twin. Sure, she shared a salmon-colored house with three other people in San Francisco, but she felt as though she were missing something without Alicia sleeping in the bunk below her. All of Alicia’s concept art was gone from the walls, too, so only AJ’s stuff remained in the room. It felt naked and odd. She was happy for Alicia for getting married and getting her own place, but she somehow felt as though she lagged behind in life, always finding trouble and no stability.

AJ sighed and flipped on the TV. It was old, like the ones in the classrooms AJ remembered as a kid, and had a VCR built into it, but AJ wasn’t one for the newest technology. She almost considered herself technology _phobic_ —she didn’t consider herself to be very smart, and she certainly didn’t want her tech to be smarter than her.

She flipped through channels until she landed on the news. A storm was coming to the San Francisco Bay, and the weatherman excitedly waved his hands around the green screen to emphasize where it would hit. AJ sunk into her fuzzy beanbag facing the TV and opened her laptop. Why did she want Jodie to talk to her so badly?

Maybe she was lonely. It had been a year since she broke up with her girlfriend—a short-lived Tinder relationship that had lots of sex and not too much substance. Maybe she craved affection so badly she’d reach out to mysterious people via email.

AJ’s heart leaped as she saw a response.

“My boss is pretty cool. We just submitted the final version of the art and animation for our first commercial! I did all the animation and concept art for the characters in it, and I’m really proud of it. It’s been sent to the musicians and voice actors to work on, and when it’s finished, I’ll send it to you! I understand what you mean about your hand being tired. I have so many commissions to do, I want to die. Your art is amazing, by the way. I could learn a lot from you. I followed you back on Instagram! Jodie.”

AJ loaded a bowl into her beloved bong, a six-inch clear glass piece named Salem (Salem burned witches, AJ burned weed into Salem—she thought it was pretty clever, but Alicia thought it was stupid), and smoked it and finished her cheeseburger while she thought of how to reply. She decided to check her Instagram notifications and sure enough, there was Jodie.

She was a pretty, curvy black girl with wild curls (usually tied up in a bun). Her illustrations reminded AJ of a children’s book or a cartoon she would’ve liked as a kid. It had a sweet sort of naivete that AJ hadn’t seen in years in her own line of work. It wasn’t super realistic, but it had a rather nice charm to it.

AJ followed her back and took a peek at her selfie on her story. “The subway is always so noisy that it keeps my brain quiet,” the caption read atop her adorable suit.

“An artsy type, hmm?” AJ said to herself. She took a thoughtful hit. She _was_ awfully cute. Perhaps she was just desperate, or maybe it was the weed, but she really liked what she was seeing.

She typed out her reply. “Your art is so whimsical! I haven’t seen shit like that in a long-ass time! I see why you do what you do for a living. Not to mention you’re super cute, too. Girls in suits are my weakness.” AJ was being bold, but that was how she operated. No need to pussyfoot. “Do you do drawing streams? I’d love to see you in action. AJ.”

Once she hit send, she decided she needed a beer, so she went downstairs and headed for the kitchen.

“You reek,” her roommate, the even-more-anal-than-Alicia piercer named Joanne, complained, waving away the invisible stench. “You smoking again?”

“I smoke every day,” AJ said halfheartedly, grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge and opening it against the counter. “What’s it to you?”

“Don’t do that to the counter! She whined. “We rent this place?”

AJ rolled her eyes. “Imma sketch if you need anything.”

“You can’t drink and smoke every day!”

“Watch me.”

Despite their banter, Joanne and AJ were rather close; Joanne had been AJ’s best friend since kindergarten, so it was no surprise that she became her first roommate aside from her sister. The other two roommates, a freelance writer named Lauren and her brother, a professional gamer named Logan, were friends Alicia and herself met in high school, bonding over the fact that they were both twins. AJ wondered if Alicia missed living with all them.

Joanne stopped in AJ’s doorway. “Hey. I’m making snickerdoodles. Want any?”

“Sure! Just put some in a baggie and slip it under the door. I’ll be in the zone.”

Joanne nodded. “Gotcha. There’s gonna be a midnight premier of _Waverly Way Werewolves 2_ tonight at the theater you like. Wanna go after you’re done in the zone?”

“Do I?” AJ beamed. Then her face faltered. “Is your boytoy coming? Because I don’t wanna see him.” AJ loved her friend, but hated the men Joanne chose to have in her life.

“He hates werewolf movies. It’ll just be us. Lauren and Logan if they decide to come. I’d ask Alicia, but she’s too pregnant and tired to be up much later than ten. I’ll knock on your door when it’s time to leave.”

“Gotcha!” AJ then shut her door and plugged her laptop into the TV to play some Netflix. After turning on a nature montage, she went to her desk and started drawing.

 

 

\--

 

Jodie hated living alone, but she hated roommates even more. She had tried it a few times, but once her art commissions and her salaried job brought in enough money to provide for her and Socks, she was more than happy to live in a studio alone. It was quiet enough for her to draw, and she could watch any sort of TV or play any games she wanted.

During her TV therapy time, she received a Facebook message from one of her online friends, Eleanor. She had known Eleanor since she started playing _League of Legends_ with her years ago, but now, they played indie horror co-op games together.

“You busy tonight? I wanna jump on some _Ghost Versus Girl.”_

Jodie loved that game! One person played the ghost trying to scare the other player, the other played the girl in a haunted house trying to rid the house of the ghost. She wanted to reply, but got an email from AJ at the same time. Excitedly, she opened it.

“Your art is so whimsical! I haven’t seen shit like that in a long-ass time! I see why you do what you do for a living. Not to mention you’re super cute, too. Girls in suits are my weakness. Do you do drawing streams? I’d love to see you in action. AJ.”

Jodie blushed. AJ thought _she_ was cute? Sure enough, she got the notification of AJ following her back.

Jodie wasn’t sure how to reply. Should she hit up AJ in the DMs, or play some games with Eleanor? After a brief debate, she texted Eleanor, “I’ll play Girl. Are we streaming?”

Eleanor’s reply came instantly. “Fuck yeah we are. Your followers will love it.”

After quickly tweeting that Eleanor and she would be streaming a co-op horror game, Jodie got her stream set up. The way they worked co-op streams was that they ran them at the same time, and followers could pop between their screens to see what was going on. It took a while for Eleanor to get her screensharing to work on YouTube, so Jodie decided to run with her gut and message AJ on Instagram.

“Hey.”

No answer. Maybe she was too forward? She decided to focus her attention back on the stream. People were asking questions about when Jodie would update her art on Patreon.

“Very soon! I’m really busy with my new job,” she said into the mic. “I really need to rest my hand for a while, so once we’re done with the stream, I’ll finish some up.”

Someone donated her channel five dollars. Jodie thanked the supporter, and Eleanor’s cam popped on. Her face, small and elflike with long, limp blonde hair framing it, appeared on the righthand corner of her screen, with a screenshare of the _Ghost Versus Girl_ on her feed. Jodie temporarily unmuted Eleanor’s channel.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Eleanor said to her followers. Jodie turned up her volume so her followers could hear Eleanor. “I, Eleanor, will be streaming the Ghost role on my channel, GelflingGaming. Jodie will be streaming the Girl role on her channel, BreakTheSilence. Keep a tab of each of us open to follow both sides! Jodie is watching us right now…say hi, Jodes!”

“Hi,” said Jodie.

“But she’ll be muting my video while she plays so she won’t know what I’m doing. Sound peachy?”

The followers on Jodie’s end all responded with “yes” and strings of emojis.

“Then let’s do this shit!” Eleanor and Jodie said in unison, Eleanor’s voice much louder than Jodie’s. And the games begun.

Jodie muted Eleanor’s video and started the game. The haunted house remixed every time you opened the game, and this time, Jodie started out outside of the iron gates, trying to find a way in. Her sprite was a small child, so she tried to fit through the bars, but to no avail. She explored the area around the gate and found a small crawlspace into the graveyard beside the mansion.

She crawled under it. The fog was thick and she continuously ran into the gravestones since she couldn’t see very well. The wind howled in her ears, which never ceased to make her palms sweat a little, but there was still no sign of Eleanor.

Suddenly, the door to a shed swung open. “Eleanor?” Jodie called out. Sighing, she went inside. A flashlight, still on but flickering, laid on the floor next to a dead little boy.

Her character picked it up. “It works, but needs new batteries,” the text on the bottom read.

“Alright, let’s find some batteries!” Jodie said into the mic. “I wonder what else is in this shed…”

She searched the boy’s body and found a few quarters. “Yep, money is totally useful to the dead,” Jodie remarked.

“It’s useful to pay the ferryman,” someone in the chat remarked.

“Hmm…good point. Maybe that’ll help the spirit rest easy.” Jodie reflected on that as she searched the rest of the shed.

She opened a drawer, and a skull fell out, clattering and falling apart as it made contact with the floor. She let out a small squeak, and the chat was spammed with “oh no!” and scared emojis.

“I guess there’s nothing else here,” Jodie said, her voice shaking. She retreated out of the shed and back into the cemetery. It looked different somehow…almost clearer.

She kept walking, the crunch of her feet on the grass and the howling of the wind making her hair stand on end. Suddenly, she found herself falling…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ watches Jodie livestream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for some light gore? I guess?

AJ’s eyes began to droop. Her hand was cramping, the callus on her left hand indenting and turning an odd shade of blue. She set down her pen and checked the time on her phone. 10:30 PM. She had some time before _Waverly Way Werewolves 2_ and her tattoo art was all finished for her next two appointments.

She switched Netflix over to The Addams Family—a not-so-guilty pleasure—and surfed Instagram. She posted a picture of her latest finished sleeve and scrolled through, pausing for a moment when she noticed that Jodie posted something.

“GelflingGaming and I will be playing against each other in Ghost Vs Girl,” the caption on the _Ghost Versus Girl_ screenshot said. “Come watch! Here’s the link to my livestream!”

AJ tapped the link, highlighted the link text, and manually typed it on her laptop. She closed out of Netflix and watched the stream on the TV. She hadn’t seen this game since before Alicia got married. They used to play together all the time, but now Alicia was boring. AJ sadly reflected on their relationship as she watched Jodie’s sprite tumble down a pit.

 _She’s going for the cellar on accident_ , AJ thought to herself. She donated Jodie five dollars, remembering how hellacious I was to find the cellar in the game before the rest of the mansion. Whoever was playing Ghost was pretty good, in AJ’s opinion.

The sound of the donation seemed to scare the shit out of Jodie. “Jesus Christ!” she shouted as her sprite landed on the cellar floor. Then she read the username on the donation. “Ajnakamura…AJ? You’re watching my stream?” Her voice shook in a way AJ felt had nothing to do with the game.

“Hi!” AJ typed. “Got done with some work so I thought I’d watch for a while.”

“Well, thanks for the donation!” Jodie said. “I feel bad…I barely know you and all.”

“No worries, fam,” AJ typed. “You better find a better source of light than that flashlight, though. Shit’s busted.”

Sure enough, in the dim, crackling light of the cellar, the screen showed the flashlight cracked to pieces.

“Well, shit,” Jodie said. The screen showed her sprite standing and dusting herself off. “Hey, there’s a torch over there. If I can find a way to light a makeshift torch I can carry with me, then I’ll have light following me.” Jodie’s sprite scanned the area before finding a large tree branch. Her sprite, being a little girl, looked as though she was struggling to pick it up, but once she was holding it, she carried it with no problem.

Jodie held what now looked to be a massive walking stick and held it up to the torch. It lit, and now Jodie had an (albeit flickering) light.

The ominous music of the cellar began: low, cavelike moans mixed with what sounded like a music box.

“Where’s the music coming from?” Jodie asked. “I’ve never been down here before.”

AJ, who remembered how horrifying the music box was, suggested not looking for the source. Several no-sign emoji followed from other users.

“I’m gonna look for it and turn it off,” Jodie announced.

AJ sighed, deciding to do the same thing the first time she heard it. It was so memorable she had, in fact, gotten the very music box tattooed on her right hand. Alicia had done a wonderful job with it and had done the same on her left. She couldn’t help but wonder if Alicia still looked at their matching tattoos fondly, or wanted to cover it with a half-sleeve dedicated to her kid and wife or something.

Jodie raised her torch and followed the sound, her sprite’s feet cracking on bones on the ground. She scanned the area, revealing bars like jail cells around her.

“Is this, like, a dungeon? I didn’t know this game had one,” Jodie whisper-squealed.

The music box began to slow, a response within itself.

“Why is it going slower? At least it’ll stop,” Jodie mused aloud.

“You really don’t want that,” AJ promised her.

Sure enough, the mysterious music box stopped, and the torches of the cellar all went dark, including Jodie’s.

“What the fuck?” Jodie asked, her voice hoarse.

AJ chuckled to herself. This sure would be interesting.

Her attention was dragged from the screen as Joanne knocked on the door. “Is the artist alive in there?”

AJ muted the stream. “Come on in!”

Joanne entered, plugging her nose. “It smells like booze and weed in here. Gross. What’re you watching?”

AJ chucked her burger wrapper at her roommate. “Don’t be so straightedge. And I’m watching a new friend stream _Ghost Versus Girl_.”

Joanne nodded, watching Jodie’s sprite on the muted screen. “An oldie but a goodie. Loved that game in high school. I see she found the dungeon easter egg.”

“Oh yeah. And she’s going after the music box.”

Joanne paled. “Oh, she’s fucked.”

“Butt fucked.”

“I couldn’t play the game for ages after I discovered that. Your sister is the worst Ghost.”

“I know! I didn’t even know the cellar existed, let alone did I know Alicia knew things about the game that I didn’t! I don’t know who this Ghost is, but she’s a genius.”

“Well, all that aside…” Joanne dragged her eyes away from the screen. “We wanna leave for the movie soon. Logan and Lauren are coming.”

“Oh, cool! Lemme wait for this stream to finish.”

“I’ll join you.” And Joanne sat next to her on the floor, crisscross, and watched the horrors unfold as AJ unmuted the TV.

 

\--

Jodie felt her palms sweat. Was this where Eleanor was hidden? Was she winning? It sure felt like Jodie was the one losing—in front of AJ, no less.

Two torches flickered, igniting with a blue flame. She watched in horror as what looked to be her character being crucified upside down, her hands pouring blood as a little girl hammered nails into her hands.

“Oh, _hell_ no!” Jodie yelled, hands shaking. “I didn’t know it was _this_ kinda game!”

The little girl set down the bloodsoaked hammer and walked closer to her sprite, her white dress stained with bloody handprints. “Do you like my music box?” the girl asked with a giggle.

“No!” Jodie yelled. “If I liked it, I wouldn’t try to shut it off!”

“If you find it, it’ll rid us of the horrible ghost upstairs,” the girl continued.

“Don’t creepy ghosts like other creepy ghosts?” Jodie asked, her voice in a hoarse whisper.

“The ghost upstairs killed me,” she said. “She pushed me down the stairwell and I broke my neck.”

“Oh,” Jodie responded. The chat erupted with laughing emoji.

“Avenge my death!” The little girl screamed, black liquid pouring from her mouth, eyes, ears, and nose. She hastily rewound the music box and disappeared, as did the cross.

The torches went back to normal, and her sprite stared at her palms, which were free of any blood. It was as though the entire thing was an illusion.

“I’m pretty sure I peed my pants,” Jodie said into the mic, “but hey, we found a way to defeat Eleanor, so I don’t know why AJ and everyone’s telling me not to find it.”

“I ain’t saying shit,” AJ said. “You’ll see what happens.”

“That’s not intimidating at all,” Jodie grumbled. And she followed the noise, determined to win.

She wandered from cell to cell, finding (and looting) the hung dead bodies she found. Many of the bodies contained bloodstained notes. Jodie made her character read them.

The first one read, “‘Her name is Elisabeth.’” Jodie hummed in thought for a second. “Is this person talking about the girl?”

“I’m not saying anything. Just keep looking around,” AJ replied.

Soon, she read the second. “‘Don’t trust the music box.’” Well shit, how do I conquer the Ghost then?”

She was irritated by the time she reached the third. “‘Which one is the real ghost?’ Obviously, Eleanor is upstairs, right? She’s never been in the cellar before. I’ve never even seen this cellar before.”

“It’s an easter egg,” AJ said. “A fucked up one, but an easter egg.”

“So Eleanor is somewhere else, yes?”

AJ said nothing.

Jodie continued in the cellar, looking for the music box, when she noticed the clock out of the corner of her eye. “Shit, it’s two AM! I didn’t know I’ve been playing so long!” She typed to Eleanor that she had to leave for bed and saved the game. “We’ll have to find out more about the music box next week! Bye!”

And she signed out, regretting staying up so late. Work was going to be hell next morning, that was for sure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ falls back into old habits. Jodie tries to keep her cool at work.

AJ was too drunk to remember the movie.

Anything with that sort of title required some heavy drinking, right? At least, that was how she excused it. She had bought three tiny bottles of Bacardi and poured them into a five-dollar Coke at the theater, but it didn’t take long for her to get absolutely shitfaced. She was glad her sister wasn’t around to see her make an ass of herself.

Or was she?

AJ laid in bed that night, the room still spinning, as she realized how lonely she felt now. She only ever saw Alicia at work, and she was usually giving her a bad time about her life decisions, not being her best friend and sister like before. She felt this weird pang of…what was it, jealousy?

Yep.

She was insanely jealous of Alicia’s wife, Holly.

Holly was a great lady. She was a professional piercer and worked for both Twin Dragons and her own shop, Holly’s Needles. She was a sweet, carefree Wiccan hippie, which balanced out Alicia’s stick up her ass.

Tears fell from AJ’s eyes. She was so happy for Alicia for finding love, but all AJ was stuck with was drunken hookups from the bar or Tinder. She wished she wasn’t so clingy to her twin. She wished she had a girlfriend of her own.

She switched on the lamp and loaded a bowl to calm down, turning on _Beetlejuice_ to calm down. Maybe someday, she would have someone to smoke with her and watch these shitty, creepy movies with her.

 

\--

 

AJ didn’t remember falling asleep, but she woke up sick as fuck. She took a shower, pulled on the first outfit she could find lying on the floor (after a quick sniff test, of course), rubbed some eyeshadow on her eyes (which AJ was pretty sure was expired, since it made her eyes look even more red and puffy than before), and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“You look like hell!” Joanne exclaimed. “I told you to stop drinking!”

“Bite me,” AJ groaned, turning off the kitchen light, which was too damn bright for her hangover. She found another tiny bottle of Bacardi and poured it into her orange juice.

“No,” Joanne said, taking it away. “You’re not going back to drinking all the time!”

“I just need to help my hangover so I can work today,” AJ said, snatching the orange juice back.

Joanne tapped the kitchen clock. “About that…Alicia has called six times, saying that your client bailed and wants to reschedule? Why weren’t you there to set up at eight?”

It was now eleven am. AJ slapped her forehead, devoured a yogurt, inhaled her orange juice, grabbed her satchel, and ran out. At least the shop was within walking distance.

“Where the _fuck_ have you been?” Alicia asked her through clenched teeth as AJ tripped in the doorway.

“Went out for a movie with the roommates last night. Overslept. But I got all my sketches done for the next few days, so there’s that.”

Alicia sniffed the air around her twin. “You reek of rum and weed. Don’t tell me you’ve been picking up the bottle again.”

“I just went a little hard last night is all,” AJ replied with a one-shoulder shrug, not wanting to have this conversation. “Besides, I have beer and weed all the time. What’s it to you?”

“Beer is one thing, hard alcohol is another. I’d hate for you to go back to being dysfunctional.”

“ _I’m fine, alright_?” AJ shouted, slamming her sketchpad on her workdesk. “Just leave me the fuck alone. It’s too loud in here.”

Alicia shook her head. As she walked away, AJ caught her murmuring, “It wouldn’t be too loud if you weren’t yelling.”

AJ decided to ignore her and popped a stick of gum in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully as she waited for her client. She did need to chill. It wasn’t Alicia’s problem that AJ was an eternal child, never finding true love.

 _Why am I acting like such a fucking teenager?_ AJ groaned to herself. _No grown woman wants a girl._

Her phone buzzed, and AJ grabbed it. Her heart jumped. Was it Jodie?

It wasn’t Jodie. It was one of her other clients, asking to reschedule because her son had to stay home sick from school.

This gave AJ nothing to do today. Her sketches were done, all her clients had bailed.

There was only one thing to do now.

Day drink.

AJ gathered her shit, ignoring Alicia’s protests of, “What if we have walk-ins?” and stormed out of the shop, fuming. All she wanted was whisky and a cute lady to look at.

 

\--

 

Jodie awoke at seven, feeling like absolute garbage, when she remembered that her office had voted to start work later in the day for higher productivity. What was she so worried about then, anyway? She checked her phone, noting no messages from AJ. Were her gameplays that bad?

She decided to catch a few more hours of sleep.

 

\--

 

When Jodie did finally get to work, there was cake and soda at the receptionist’s desk. The receptionist, an older woman with five grandchildren and a love for Jesus, placed a party hat on Jodie’s bun. “It’s Melina’s birthday!” the woman crooned, clapping her hands. “We’re having a surprise party for her!”

Jodie suppressed a groan. The last thing her day needed was drama with Melina. But this lady was old, had good intentions, and didn’t need to deal with Jodie’s interpersonal issues.

“That’s nice,” Jodie said delicately, clocking in on the sign-in sheet before going to her cube. She decided she would wear the party hat to save face, but she wouldn’t cheer when Melina came in. Instead, she decided to get to work on some background concept art for the character’s homes. After all, they were teenage mermaids; she pictured them having mermaid slumber parties, giggling about crushes and fish-celebrities and playing undersea video games.

At least, that’s what Jodie pictured that was what friends did. She never was a very popular girl. She had Eleanor, who she played games with, but aside from that, she rarely dated and had never had a sleepover in her life.

 _Maybe I’m tackling a project that’s a bit too big for me_ , Jodie wondered as she scribbled on her drawing tablet.

She felt her boss come up from behind her. “I love the detail you put in backgrounds,” he said to her. “Keep up the good work.”

Jodie beamed to herself. At least, no matter what, Mr. Nakamura would always be supportive of her. “Thanks!” she said.

But when she turned around, he wasn’t there anymore. Instead, he was greeting Melina at the door as the entire office sang Happy Birthday to her.

Jodie averted her eyes and looked out the window, watching the rain beat against the windowpanes. She wished she could become invisible whenever Melina was around.

Invisibility! She jotted down a note for one of the mermaid characters to have the ability to turn invisible. It would suit her personality, of course, being shy and mysterious.

“Why didn’t you wish me a happy birthday?” Melina’s voice said from behind Jodie’s head.

“I did,” Jodie lied through her teeth. “Happy birthday.”

Melina didn’t say anything in response. Instead, she gave her a mysterious wink and sauntered off.

A ball of dread settled in Jodie’s gut. She decided to listen to some nice indie pop while she drew to drown out her problems. She didn’t figure AJ had any problems like this. She seemed so self-assured, so positive. How could she be friends with someone so cool? She was such a loser, so timid, so afraid of some white girl at her work. That’s not something a badass tattoo artist would look for in anyone, was it?

Jodie lost herself in drawing for a while, letting her mind shut down as she focused on her linework. Before she knew it, it was time for lunch. She decided to visit a food truck across the street and treat herself to a gyro for working so hard on her art. But as soon as she returned, she regretted leaving instantly…


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AJ reunites with an old "friend." Jodie discovers just how racist her coworker is.

AJ hated strip clubs.

She hated the way men looked at her in them with such scrutiny, the way the bouncers and bartenders raised eyebrows and not-so-politely informed her that auditions weren’t held until seven.

AJ did like, however, one specific stripper that she hadn’t seen in a long time. She was hopelessly in love with her, but she also knew that just meant she was doing her job really well. AJ decided to cut back on the visits to the club for a while when she cut back on drinking, but she _really_ wanted to see her.

“Afternoon, AJ. Haven’t seen you in a minute,” the more-friendly bartender said, putting a plate of cheese fries before a greasy-looking customer who was trying to subtly grab a nearby stripper’s ass.

“Afternoon, Frankie,” AJ said glumly. “I’ll take a mint julip.”

Frankie raised her tattooed-on eyebrows. “Awfully strong for an afternoon drink.”

AJ shrugged. “Just feel some kinda way. Listen.” AJ leaned forward. “Do you know if Liana still works here?”

Frankie grinned, revealing her silver teeth. “Still got it bad for her, huh? She’d be happy to hear that. She’s been struggling lately. I’ll let her know you’re here once I get your drink out.”

AJ nodded and set the money for Frankie on the table, which the bartender took between her taloned and tattooed fingers and stuffed into her bra. Since it was early, her drink came out rather quickly, and she started downing it as soon as Frankie turned her back.

Within moments, a half-dressed Liana came out. She wore a simple tie-on bikini top and loose sweatpants, her feet shoved in pentagram slippers. Half of her makeup was done and her hair was in a ponytail. “AJ!” she squealed, giving her a squeeze.

AJ’s heart leaped. “It’s great to see you,” AJ said, resisting the urge to bury her face in Liana’s cleavage.

“What are you doing here so early? We just opened.”

AJ shrugged. “Just feeling some kinda way.”

“Well, I’m not…ready yet, but I’ll finish up quickly. Do you wanna book a room while I finish?”

AJ nodded. “An hour sound good?”

Liana’s honey-brown eyes lit up. “Sounds perfect.”

AJ knew that Liana was only happy for the money, but it still made her feel good to see the tiny stripper so happy.

AJ paid Frankie for the room and signed the receipt before visiting the ATM for the tips for Liana.

“Do you know if Liana still likes mojitos?” AJ asked. She hadn’t seen the girl in at least a year, but she remembered mojitos were the drinks she commonly bought her.

“That’s for her to tell you,” Frankie said, gesturing behind AJ.

She turned, jaw dropping. She forgot how beautiful Liana was when she was all dolled up. Her hair was straightened and hung just below her shoulders, and AJ couldn’t help but notice a few turquoise streaks in her otherwise-shiny-black hair. She wore a tiny G-string that left little to the imagination and clear slip-on heels. She looked so simple, yet so cute.

“Um,” AJ said intelligently.

“I still like mojitos. You ordering me a drink for our room?”

“I was thinking about it.”

Liana gestured toward AJ’s empty glass. “What were you drinking?”

“Mint julip.”

Liana nodded slowly. “Order me one too, and a glass of water for yourself. I have a feeling that we have a lot to talk about.”

Once the drinks were filled, Liana and AJ linked hands (much to the customers’ dismays) and headed into a private room.

“Sit,” said Liana, placing her drink on the table and putting the cash from the drink in her wallet.

AJ rested on the couch, eyeing the room. The couch was a little torn, most likely from the buckles on people’s pants and the girls’ shoes, but was cozy and seemed clean enough, as far as strip club couches go.

Liana switched on a lamp to the side of AJ, and the room glowed. AJ’s breath caught in her throat and felt a sudden, almost painful warmth between her legs at seeing Liana in the light. She was petite and adorable, but her normally-warm eyes were filled with worry. AJ wasn’t sure if it was paid worry or genuine concern.

“Do you want me to dance?” Liana asked. “You seem like you need to talk.”

AJ couldn’t help herself. She burst into tears. She heard a familiar click of Liana slipping off her heels and then the stripper on her lap, hugging her tightly.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know, man,” AJ said, voice shaky. “I feel so…dark inside. Like, my twin sister got married, yeah? And now she’s hanging out with her and they’re pregnant and I’m just…this forgotten punk wasteoid tossed aside. Not to mention I can’t get a date and I have to pay girls to talk to me…”

AJ’s voice trailed off as she felt Liana’s dainty fingers brushing the shaved sides of her head. “You’re just lonely,” she said softly, her fingernails running along AJ’s jawline. “What took you so long to come back?”

“I had feelings for you. It was costing me a fortune.” AJ laughed, almost bitterly. “I knew the more I paid you, you wouldn’t become my girlfriend or anything, and I respect you, but…I don’t know, I just felt like it was the only time I’d ever get to really _talk_ to someone, y’know?”

Liana nodded. “That is why I’m here.” With her cold fingertips, she wiped away AJ’s tears. “And yeah, I promised myself that I’d never go out with a client.” A small smirk played on her lips. “But I think you’re alright. Probably drink a bit too much, but I wanna take you out.”

AJ was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. “Excuse me?” she choked, holding a hand to her heart.

Immediately, AJ felt Liana’s lips upon hers. She didn’t wear lipstick this time like she usually did, but instead, a pleasantly-flavored lip gloss that left a slight residue on her lips. AJ sighed and shivered, leaning into the kiss, wanting to grab Liana’s ass but settling for her hips instead.

Then Liana pulled back. “I really, really missed you. Not because you’re the reason I moved away from my abusive boyfriend, but…I really looked forward to you coming to my work. For the longest time, you were my only friend. I decided to look as Plain Jane as possible and get tattoos from you…” Liana showed AJ her forearm piece, and AJ’s eyes widened.

She would recognize that piece anywhere. It was the most intricate geisha design AJ had ever done and had practically single-handedly given her arthritis. It was so colorful, so vibrant, and the blood that dripped from the geisha’s lips looked as gory and vivid as when it was first inked on.

“That was _you_?” AJ squeaked. “I didn’t know your name was…”

“Hitomi? Yeah, it’s not a common one.”

“I didn’t recognize you at all.”

Liana/Hitomi laughed. “I wear a wig at work. Besides, you haven’t seen me here in a year.” She reached toward her scalp and pulled her wig and cap off, revealing short, curly black hair.

“You’re definitely Hitomi,” AJ breathed. “Wait, but I saw you with a ponytail earlier!”

“That was my wig,” she laughed. “I keep it tied when I’m not wearing it. I feel like it keeps it nicer.”

AJ had never worn a wig before, so she had no idea. “Getting back to the date…”

“Ah! Yes.” Hitomi pressed her palms together in thought. “Wanna go out for sake?”

“We’re gonna look like such stereotypes,” AJ laughed, “but sure! As long as I can get udon. There’s a place downtown SanFran that does good fusion udon.”

“Let’s go. Here’s my number. Call me if you can’t find me.” Hitomi grabbed a strip club business card and scribbled her number on it before slipping it into AJ’s bra.

AJ flushed at Hitomi touching her breast and crossed her legs slightly.

“So…what now?”

Hitomi gave her a sly smile. “Shall I dance?”

 

\--

 

It was all gone.

Jodie clicked through her desktop, wide-eyed. “Even my wallpaper?” she asked nobody in particular hoarsely. There were no files, no images, not even notes on her computer. The entire thing had been wiped.

“Is there a _problem_ , Jodie?”

Jodie’s neck hair stood on end, and she turned to see none other than Birthday Girl Melina, wearing her birthday hat and an ugly smirk.

“ _You_ ,” Jodie hissed, backing right into her. “You did this!”

“What, silly ole me?” Melina said with a halfhearted shrug. “Why would I touch your desktop? I don’t know your password!” Her eyes darkened. “But how can you turn in work you don’t have, hmm?”

Jodie’s vision went red. Her ears rang. She heard screaming in the distance but wasn’t sure if it was her own thoughts or something actually happened.

When her vision went back to normal, she saw Melina sitting on the floor, clutching her eye and a bloody nose, crying, and Mr. Nakamura walking in.

“What the hell is going on!” he shouted. Mr. Nakamura never shouted.

“She wiped my computer,” Jodie said softly. “I…”

“So she assaulted me on an accusation?” Melina asked through her tears. “On my birthday!”

“Nobody cares about your stupid birthday!” Jodie exclaimed. Then she covered her mouth. It fell out too soon.

Mr. Nakamura chewed his lip in thought. “Why don’t you both just…go home and cool off tonight, okay? Melina, put some ice on your nose, and Jodie, get some rest, you look awful. I’ll call you in at my earliest convenience so we can have separate, private meetings.”

Jodie nodded. “Am I fired?”

Mr. Nakamura sighed. “We’ll talk about it at the meeting. Let’s all just wind down and take a breather, okay? No good decisions are made when we are angry.”

Jodie didn’t need to be told twice. She went into her cube, grabbed her belongings and her briefcase, and stormed to the train, tears streaming from her eyes.

As she rode home, she messaged AJ on Instagram, “Hey, I know you probably don’t care, but I really need someone to talk to right now.”

Who else would Jodie talk to, anyway? It wasn’t like she had friends. Eleanor only talked to her when they were gaming, since Eleanor wanted to become a Professional Let’s Player. She didn’t know anyone else.

Jodie sank into the bus seat and cried into her knees.


End file.
